Retiring Bremerton police chief changed with the times

Bremerton Police chief Craig Rogers (right) gets a smile and a thank you from Bremerton Police officer Steven Forbragd at Rogers’ retirement party on Thursday. Rogers is lauded by many who worked with him for modernizing Bremerton’s police department and bringing stability to it during a time of turmoil. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)

BREMERTON - February 1976

Craig Rogers is hired as Bremerton patrolman. Was on the SWAT team and quickly became a field training officer on the job.

Promoted to sergeant, Rogers starts by reporting directly to the chief, overseeing the department budget. Rewrote the field training officer program.

February 1985

Moves back to patrol where he supervises mainly graveyard shift.

June 1990

Promoted to captain, oversaw both the support services division (investigations) and the operations division.

October 2005

Became interim chief before taking on the job full-time. Rebranded the department with new patches, badges and black-and-white patrol cars. Moved the department under one roof at 1025 Burwell St. Created the department's mission and vision statements and core values.

February 9, 2013

Retires on the anniversary of his 37th year with the department.

When a thief got caught purloining punches off a punchboard at the now-defunct Copper Keg Tavern on Fourth Street, a young police officer named Craig Rogers was called in.

It was January 1978. The owner wanted no charges pressed, just a stern talking-to.

The young patrolman did not disappoint.

"Officer Rogers gave one of the better lectures on honesty that I have heard," owner John Ireland wrote in a letter to the chief of police, adding that the thief apologized later and fully paid back the theft. "A lot of policemen would not have taken the time to bother themselves over such a small problem, he did and I thank him."

So went the career of Rogers, a man who made his mark on virtually every aspect of the Bremerton Police Department.

New officer training manuals. The first DUI emphasis patrols. FBI-taught homicide investigation techniques. A department rebranding and new police headquarters.

All came under the 37-year, record-breaking watch of a meticulous man who persevered while his profession drastically changed and rose up the ranks from patrolman to chief.

"He's probably the hardest working person in that police department I've ever seen," said retired Bremerton Capt. Ron Mox, who worked alongside Rogers for more than two decades.

The department's chief for most of the last seven years, Rogers was careful and calculating in his decisions on discipline, in crime-fighting, at the bargaining table and in budget discussions. Bremerton Police Capt. Jim Burchett said Rogers would look at "every ramification, every possible consequence of a decision" before making it.

Once his mind was made up, he seldom wavered.

"Craig has a very strong sense of right and wrong," Mox said. "He never let politics affect his decisions. If he felt you were right, he fought for you. If you were wrong, you were held accountable."

‘The consummate police officer'

Rogers, who grew up in Anaheim, Calif., came to the Northwest as a young man and initially got blue-collar jobs. But a friend who worked at the Port Orchard Police Department piqued his interest in law enforcement. A job opened in Bremerton first.

He was drawn to the profession for reasons common to cops: the excitement, a desire to serve and unwillingness to sit behind a desk.

His first job was ground zero in the gritty Navy town: walking the downtown beat as bars of drunken sailors spilled out into the streets. Fights were commonplace; he had to respond often without backup.

"And if you survived first month or two by yourself with no radio," said former Bremerton Police Capt. Denny Plumb, "you were deemed worthy and sent to a two-week academy at Fort Lewis."

It's an understatement to say law enforcement was different then. The less litigious era included no "use-of-force" forms that mandated officers document why they progressed up the "use-of-force continuum" if a suspect resorted to violence.

"You didn't have the scrutiny, video cameras or telephones," recalled Mox. "A lot of people you dealt with, you fought ‘em but they never complained. They'd come up to you later and say, ‘I'm sorry I knew better.'"

At Rogers' retirement ceremony Thursday, former contracted city attorney Bill Broughton recalled "quite a ride" of working with the police department in 1980, when "things weren't quite as smooth" as they are today.

But Broughton said Rogers emerged early in his career as a "go-to guy" in the police department when it came to investigations.

His attention to detail and accuracy in report writing helped make him "the consummate police officer," according to Plumb.

"If he said it, that was the way it was," he said.

More than any other shift, Rogers relished the dark of night. Graveyard was home to hot felony calls and, on the rare night of a quiet radio, an opportunity to ambush criminals in the act. The shift matched his work ethic, said retired Bremerton Police Lt. Larry Foster.

"He'd pursue some things I thought weren't worth pursuing," he said. "He'd keep pushing when the rest of us wanted to go home."

He infused creativity in police work at times. One Bremerton resident frequently called police because she thought her home was bugged by the federal government. No words could convince her otherwise.

The problem went away with an innovative solution by Rogers that left other officers in stitches, according to retired Bremerton officer Dave Boynton.

Rogers showed up at her home, and, with a metal detector used to search female suspects, traversed her house with it, waving it around under the premise he was debugging it.

"It really put her mind at ease," Boynton said. "She never called again."

Though generally a man of few words, many of his colleagues over the years were shocked at his biting wit and penchant for playing practical jokes. Tasked with investigating a crash involving his own police chief and another high-ranking officer in the 1980s, Rogers crafted his report and then promptly wrote a tongue-and-cheek ticket to him for "driving while embracing" (an actual state law).

Foster recalled interviewing a woman one day and reaching for his notebook when a bunch of condoms fell out of the pocket. Turns out Rogers had found a box of them in an alley and had seized the opportunity to fill his colleague's work locker with them.

Onward and upward

During his time in the traffic unit, Rogers spearheaded DUI patrols in a time when they were not a law enforcement priority. A sign was posted and updated at 17th Street and Warren Avenue showing the total of DUI arrests for the year.

"We want to make people aware that if they drink they should not drive," Rogers told the Olympic College newspaper in 1984.

He was promoted to sergeant in 1984 and assigned to serve then-police chief Duane Christensen. The experience introduced Rogers to the leadership required to run a department.

"I think he learned a whole lot about the dollars and cents," retired Lt. Larry Foster said. "He learned how it was spent and who got to spend it."

Rogers left the rank-and-file in 1990 after a promotion to captain, where he'd remain for 15 years. After graduating from the FBI Academy in 2000, he rewrote the book on homicide investigations here, establishing protocols and checklists to help investigators leave no stone unturned.

Former Bremerton Police Chief Rob Forbes said Rogers' time as captain, and transition to chief, showcased his' willingness to adapt to the times.

"A lot of guys that came from the era Craig did didn't navigate it well at all and got out of the business," Forbes said. "Even though he was an old-school guy in some ways, he realized the importance of change and not only that, he embraced it."

Law enforcement technologies and techniques were modernizing. Community policing — working with residents during non-crisis times to solve problems — became en vogue.

"He saw the advantages of not being an occupying force in the community," Forbes said, "but being a part of the community."

"Change is constant," added Rogers. "You have to be willing to change."

When Forbes decided to retire in 2005, he told then Mayor Cary Bozeman there was no need to look outside for a new chief. All that was needed was Rogers' blessing. Like all big decisions, Rogers weighed it at length before deciding to go for it.

‘Change is always ongoing'

Even Rogers' more than seven years as chief is notable in a department that has historically gone through them in rapid fashion.

Former Bremerton cop and chief John Sutton told the then-Bremerton Sun in 1994 that "having five chiefs and several provisional chiefs in less than 15 years is a good indication that it's a tough place to work."

Rogers also came in with "rookie captains, rookie lieutenants, a pile of stuff on his desk and a building to build," said Bremerton Police Capt. Tom Wolfe.

That "stuff" included various misconduct investigations involving officers. While dredging through the discipline — up to and including termination — he and his management team set course for a new ethos for the department.

Rogers believed putting the ethics out front — he had them posted in the hallway where officers come and go — created an expectation, that, when broken, would make the need for accountability obvious.

"If there was an ethical decision to make," he said, "the officer could point to the core values."

He chose an acronym for PRIDE as those values: Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Dedication and Excellence.

Rogers said their creation paid off. While the department was not immune to policy violations on his watch — several officers were disciplined for inappropriate relationships with a police explorer in 2010 and 2011 — he said use-of-force and misconduct complaints by the public halved after they were implemented.

The changes were designed to reflect a changing Bremerton — the shipyard crane gave way to one of the spouts of the new waterfront fountain park — and "that we are a progressive agency and that change is always ongoing," Rogers said.

For years, the department was split between the city's aging former city hall building on Fourth Street and a shoddy office off Auto Center Way that housed its patrol division. Through a public safety bond passage, Rogers moved the department for the first time under one roof.

"We had a high crime rate and a lot of repeat offenders," Rogers said. "They needed to be held accountable."

How effective those strategies were depends on who you ask, but the crime stats are not in dispute: the city's violent crime rate fell from 11.2 incidents per thousand in 2005, when he became chief, to 6.3 in 2011, the latest statistics available.

His twilight years have presented new challenges. Continuing budget cuts reduced a 66-officer department to 54, though new recruits are currently making their way through the police academy in Burien.

"I've tried to maintain the status quo until the new chief takes over," he said.

Multiple misconduct investigations against several officers accused of inappropriate relationships with the police Explorer were carried out but did not meet the satisfaction of the police guild, who, under then Sgt. Wendy Davis, passed a vote of no confidence in the police leadership. Rogers contended that each person accused was investigated promptly and thoroughly and expressed the desire to move on when the allegations came to light. Mayor Patty Lent did not wish for further investigation but mandated training and new policies prohibiting romantic relationships between cops and Explorers or volunteers.

"Here's the chief of police, not only a dad but a granddad, getting the students to link up together," Wolfe said.

Rogers, who announced his retirement in mid-2012, remained on the job through February so Lent could hire his replacement for a more seamless transition. Steve Strachan, former Kent police chief and King County Sheriff, starts Monday.